Non-profits demand a dedicated board

Sitting on three non-profit boards is a juggling act for Eileen Rogers.

One day finds her reviewing an agency CEO's job performance, the next using her business skills to help streamline a mass mailing, and the next trying to drum up donations. And always, she's strategizing for the future of each organization and advocating for their causes.

For Rogers, president of Allegra Printing & Imaging in Scottsdale, it's all part of the job of today's board member. advertisement

"A really active board of directors can bring together knowledge and expertise and benefit the community," said Rogers, who serves on boards for Homeward Bound, Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona and the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

More and more, board members like Rogers have to balance passion with the practical considerations of serving a non-profit. The shift comes as the public, government and non-profit organizations themselves are calling for greater accountability from the non-profit sector.

"The trajectory seems to be that boards will have to be far more responsible," said Robert Ashcraft, director of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership & Management at Arizona State University.

"It's not a situation (anymore) where a board member can be a casual, passive observer of the organization," he said. "And it's a bit of a wake-up call for organizations that maybe have been rather lax or casual in how their board is constructed."

In fact, this summer the nation's philanthropic and non-profit leaders turned over to Congress an unprecedented report on the non-profit sector and zeroed in on board governance.

Against that backdrop, ASU this week is hosting a statewide conference focused on building better non-profit boards of directors. The university will also unveil its new board leadership and governance project, an in-depth training for existing board members and non-profit chief executive officers as well as for corporations that want their employees to learn about board responsibilities.

The ASU project comes as the non-profit Arts & Business Council of Greater Phoenix has just graduated its second class from a multiweek board governance training for employees of companies such as Intel, Cox Communications and Arizona Public Service Co. Several large Valley corporations also are exploring bringing the training in-house.

Meantime, Salt River Project, long one of the state's standard-bearers of corporate citizenship, is planning one or two brown-bag sessions to make sure that employees who serve on boards, and those who want to, understand their responsibilities.

Arizona is home to as many as 19,000 registered, operating non-profit organizations, according to "Arizona's Nonprofit Sector: The Spirit of Arizona," a 2003 report on the sector. Arizonans have been creating roughly 1,500 new organizations each year, the report says.

Author and attorney Tim Delaney, founder of the Center for Leadership, Ethics & Public Service, notes that non-profits are facing a rising "accountability challenge" from a distrusting public over ethical missteps and scandals in the for-profit and non-profit sectors.

ASU's Ashcraft said the sheer growth of the sector and calls for more accountability are creating a great demand for skilled board members.

Today's board, he said, is "less a 'who's who' board and more of an engaged, working board."

Non-profits "are looking at finding the right talent, right motivation, meeting mission," he said.

Passion and expertise

That balance is key for Save the Family, said board President Nancy Blevins, a six-year board member and also a performance consultant at SRP.

The agency provides housing and services for homeless families and runs like a small business to do that. Officials operate with a $5.3 million budget, manage nearly 150 transitional houses and affordable rentals, and run a thrift store.

Long-range planning is critical and ongoing, Blevins said, as the economy fluctuates or charitable giving slows or the housing bubble bursts.

"It's important to be passionate, but it's also important to bring your expertise, to be willing to try, and to stick your neck out there," she said.

Blevins is one of the 50 to 60 SRP employees currently sitting on non-profit boards for agencies focused on everything from the arts to the environment to health and human services, said Karen Fish, the company's manager of community outreach.

Fish, a member of two boards and a steering committee for an education organization, said non-profits turn to the company to help round out boards with expertise in areas like finance or marketing.

For its part, SRP can watch over its financial donations, and employees can develop professionally, such as honing leadership techniques. . Perhaps as important, Fish said, employees are exposed to community issues and the leaders trying to tackle them.

Time commitment

Protecting the corporate investment is one of the ways Debbie Paine sells her Business on Board program.

Participants learn about everything from ethics to legal responsibilities to fund-raising and then are placed on arts and social-services boards.

Employees "can be the watchdog for not only the non-profit but the corporation," said Paine, executive director of the Arts Business Council of Greater Phoenix.

A key lesson for the "students" is the time commitment required by board members. In fact, two of 18 on the graduation track ultimately dropped out because of that.

"That is a very responsible thing, and it shows that they're learning," Paine said. "It's not an adventure; it's a job."

Susan Ramsey, an agent with Remax Integrity Realtors, is in her third year on the board for New Life Center, a domestic-violence shelter in Goodyear.

She came to New Life with a desire to help women and children and quickly learned how to marry passion and practicality.

As New Life begins a capital campaign to expand, she's also using her realty expertise to help review plans for new family "casitas," and she is chairwoman of a committee that will go after campaign gifts up to $50,000.

Aside from the campaign duties, Ramsey takes part in an annual strategic-planning session and in regular reviews of things such as safety issues at the center and the profitability of the secondhand store. And of course, she's the non-stop advocate, talking up the cause with clients and using her network of contacts to help the agency.

Ramsey and others say their role as working board members is critical.

"I think your board reflects on your organization."

Reach the reporter at susie.steckner@arizonarepublic .com or (602) 444-7972.